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Carita 111 – sailing the west coast of Scotland in 1955

My father often talked about a sailing trip he took in 1955. He was thirty years old and had just passed his fellowship in surgery. Later that same year he would marry my mother, a sister on the plastic surgery unit in Newcastle, and take up a commission as a surgeon in the Royal Air Force.

The boat was Carita 111, a 30-ft Bermuda Sloop, built in 1936. He sailed it with four colleagues, the oldest of whom I believe owned the boat. Dad had to work the first few days of the trip, so they sent a row boat to pick him up from Oban about ten minutes into the video. He is recognizable by his curly black hair and the dimple in his chin.

The second part of the video includes throwing out the empty bottles at the end of the trip and some views of breakfast below decks.

Peter Dickinson, who did such an excellent job of making the video in 2005, went on to set up the vascular surgery program in Newcastle. Sadly he passed away in 2013.

Ken Oyston trimming the sail of a Westerly “Tempest” while sailing in the Ionian Sea

For my father, this was the start of a lifetime passion for boats and sailing. He owned two small dinghies, a Firefly and a Mirror Dinghy (which I helped him build). In his retirement, he took several trips flotilla sailing around Greece and Turkey. These trips were a highlight of his life.

Carita 111 is still sailing! It was restored in 200s and is available for sale in Holland for 59,000 euros!